17 killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an armored NATO bus Saturday on a busy thoroughfare in Kabul, killing 17 people, including a dozen Americans, in the deadliest strike against the U.S.-led coalition in the Afghan capital since the war began.

The blast occurred on the same day that a man wearing an Afghan army uniform killed three coalition troops, who were reportedly Australian, in the south — attacks that show the resiliency of the insurgency and are likely to raise new doubts about the unpopular 10-year-old war and the Western strategy of trying to talk peace with the Taliban.

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POLITICO 44

A spokesman for the fundamentalist Islamic movement, which was ousted in the 2001 invasion for its affiliation with Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the bomber had used 1,540 pounds of explosives.

The Taliban and related groups have staged more than a dozen major attacks in Kabul this year, including seven since June, in an apparent campaign to weaken confidence in the Afghan government as it prepares to take over its own security ahead of a 2014 deadline for the U.S. and other NATO countries to withdraw their troops or move them into support roles.

Underscoring the difficulties ahead, the brazen assault occurred just hours after top Afghan and Western officials met in the heart of Kabul to discuss the second phase of shifting security responsibilities to Afghan forces in all or part of 17 of the country’s 34 provinces. Afghans already have the lead in the Afghan capital.

Heavy black smoke poured from the burning wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, known as a Rhino, in Kabul after the bomber struck. The bus had been sandwiched in the middle of a convoy of mine-resistant military vehicles when it was hit along a four-lane highway often used by foreign military trainers in the southwestern part of Kabul.

The landmark Darulaman Palace, the bombed-out seat of former Afghan kings, was the backdrop to the chaotic scene: Shrapnel, twisted pieces of metal and charred human remains littered the street.

U.S. soldiers wept as they pulled bodies from the debris, said Noor Ahmad, a witness at the scene. One coalition soldier was choking inside the burned bus, he said.

“The bottom half of his body was burned,” Ahmad said.

NATO said five of its service members and eight civilian contractors working for the coalition died in the attack.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to release the information before a formal announcement, said all 13 were Americans. However, Lt. Col. Christian Lemay, a Canadian defense spokesman, told The Associated Press that one Canadian soldier was among the troops killed. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.

It was the deadliest single attack against the U.S.-led coalition across the country since the Taliban shot down a NATO helicopter on Aug. 6 in an eastern Afghan province, killing 30 U.S. troops, most elite Navy SEALs, and eight Afghans.

All 13 NATO service members killed on a NATO bus were US soldiers. It is troubling that we let our troops serve under the shadow of NATO. This is a tragedy that should not happen. My heart goes out to these poor defenseless soldiers and their families.

We invaded Afghanistan 10 years ago in response to 9/11, and thus it might behoove us to consider why we were attacked to begin with. Most Americans are clueless. A small hint was provided in The 9/11 Commission Report, (page 147), which describes the motivation of the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: "By his own account, KSM's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.” (The Israel Lobby did not want that sentence in the report.) Indeed, KSM has said that the purpose of the 9/11 attacks was to "wake the American people up." As part of his original 9/11 plan, KSM was going to land one of the planes here and then "deliver a speech condemning American policy on Israel." (The New York Times 9/15/09) all

ANybody who says the US got attacked becuase of "imperialism' (willbheard) is ignoring the basic nature of totalitarian governments (and wannabe governments) Did Russia invade Poland becuase of polish "imperialism?' Did the Japanese invade so many asian countries because of those countries' "imperialism?" Did the Romans, Genghis Khan, Atilla, the Moors, Alexander, Napoleon etc commit thier attacks in response to anybody's "imperialism" but thier own? No, some people, hence some governments and organizations, are just spoiling for a fight. You who disparage our military as "the reason" for such attacks turn logic on it's head...the military exists because of outifts like the Taliban, the PLO, Hizbollah, Iran's Revolutionary guard...not the other way around. The only reason you are free to condemn our government is because it offers you the freedom to do so. Try it in some of these other countries....

Pizullo, Point 1. I have never disparaged the military. Quite the opposite. Military service has long been a family tradition. Point 2. When a terrorist hits us, clearly the terrorist knows better why he did it than you do. all

round the clock bombing for a month..then get out..the republicans will spin this into something political..some military family will get a visit today that will chane there lives forever as my family did.god be with these familys..god be with our president.bring um home barack..just bring um home..we got bin laden let the drones do the rest bring um home..

Unlike all the other contenders, Ron Paul is not an Israel Lobby whore. In a Republican presidential debate on 5/15/07, Ron Paul stated clearly that we were attacked on 9/11 as blowback from our foreign policy. Indeed, The 9/11 Commission Report (page 147) reports that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he hates us because of our biased support for Israel, which is in violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions because of its illegal brutal occupations. Because of 9/11 we blundered into the ill-conceived invasion of Afghanistan. Following this, the Israel Lobby neocons fixed the intelligence to lie us into war with Iraq on behalf of Israel. Iran is next on their agenda. all

On 1/26/98, Israel Lobby neocons, such as William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, and others, sent President Clinton a letter urging a "willingness to undertake military action" to remove Saddam Hussein. They belonged to a group called the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), founded by William Kristol, son of the late neocon godfather Irving Kristol. PNAC faded away after the Iraq debacle but appears to have resurfaced. William Kristol helped found a new organization, The Foreign Policy Initiative, which sent a letter to President Obama calling for a bigger military footprint in Afghanistan. It was signed by many of the same people who signed the 1998 PNAC letter. (See The Wall Street Journal 9/16/09). The Israel Lobby neocons want an indefinite US military presence in Afghanistan to serve as a base from which to attack Iran, Pakistan, and all of Israel's many enemies who object to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. all

I'm shocked that Politico is even reporting this.....The liberal media has been silent on reporting casualties during Obumbles term. Don't want to report anything negative that could harm the messiah....

round the clock bombing for a month..then get out..the republicans will spin this into something political..some military family will get a visit today that will chane there lives forever as my family did.god be with these familys..god be with our president.bring um home barack..just bring um home..we got bin laden let the drones do the rest bring um home..

Depot, Muslims around the world are being radicalized because they see their religion and homelands under assault. They believe America is at war with Islam. Exhibit A has long been our unconditional support of Israel’s illegal occupations and persecutions which has resulted in revenge attacks like 9/11. Exhibit B is the fact that after 9/11 we made matters worse by copying Israel and attacking Muslim countries ourselves. Pushed by the Israel Lobby neocons, we morphed into Israel and began invading and occupying Muslim lands, setting up puppet governments, terrorizing, maiming, and killing civilians with bombings, checkpoint shootings, targeted assassinations, indefinite detentions with torture, etc. Civilian bombing was cited by the Times Square bomber as a reason for his attacking us. Exhibit C is the anti-Muslim rhetoric from people like you. all

As discussed 5/9/10 on CBS 60 Minutes, people are recruited into anti-American terrorism, according to retired senior FBI advisor on terrorism Philip Mudd, by being shown internet pictures and videos of the Israeli occupiers' deadly cruelty towards Palestinians, plus civilian deaths due to US occupiers in Muslim lands. In the July 2010 Rolling Stone, US Army General Stanley McChrystal was quoted as saying that for every innocent person we kill, we create 10 new enemies. The New York Times 3/3/11 reported that on 3/1/11 our helicopters murdered nine Afghan boys who were gathering badly needed firewood. The weather there is very cold and they were very poor. Just one boy, Hemad, survived because he was hidden by a tree that was felled by our rockets. Hemad said he saw the helicopter gunships hunting down the boys, shooting them “one after the other.” The families who went looking for the missing boys said, “The head of a child was missing. Others were missing limbs…We tried to find the body pieces and put them together.” General Petraeus apologized, but as reported in The Wall Street Journal 3/3/11, a brother of two of the boys said, “I don’t care about the apology. The only option I have is to pick up a Kalashnikov, RPG or a suicide vest to fight.”all

“Winning” is a meaningless word in this type of war, but something is happening in the Afghan south that gives me hope. Rather than resignation, America should show resolve — not to maintain a large troop presence or extend timelines, but to be smarter about the way we use our tapering resources to empower those Afghans willing to lead and serve.

The liberal media has been silent on reporting casualties during Obumbles term.

Yes. An unholy alliance...and a dangerous one to liberty.

Absolutely no one can honestly claim that the present mainstream media is treating Obama the same as it would if he were Republican...not even with the false spin reports put out about too much "negative" coverage...reports which are nothing more than appeals by the current White House to continue with the media adoration of Obama from Times Square to Hollywood.

They deflect from factual problems and dangerous inconsistencies like Fast & Furious, or the loss of support across the spectrum for Obamacare. Factual reporting, consistent reporting, would damage their candidate. Therefore they do not do it. They certainly refused to vet the gentleman in 2008.

And now, with Obama's clear record of failure, and his certain questionable character, soon the compliant media will doubtless shift toward saturation puff pieces on Michelle Obama (they have already begun this), in order to deflect scrutiny from the incompetence and deceit known as Obama. Yet Obama's particular incomptence and deceit cannot be amended nor improved, not even with another 4 years, or even 40 more years. For extremist Leftists, like Obama, are incurable. Once in power, the entire system is perverted into keeping them there. And that is where we are today with the media...perverted for partisan purpose.

The neo-socialist media is not being objective or honest...for example, the same wilful ignorance of omission is taking place in the mainstream media regarding the suppression of Solyndra (which DOE Secretary Chu now jokes about); again, were Obama a Republican it would be 24/7 media agitation. Because it is not reporting, the media itself has ceased to function as such. It has become something else entirely.

When media is vested with partisan politics, as is true with the mainstream American media and Obama, it no longer is media. It is a party organ akin to Pravda in the days of the Soviets, or frankly more like Völkischer Beobachter from the days of the Nazi socialists.

All I know is the truth shall set you free. Too many Leftists refuse the truth, and are obviously therefore enslaved to their dogma and ideology, simply being prostituted toys of the radical Left apparatchik.